Big Brother to target the poor

21 December 1999

[CCTV to target poor]

A massive extension of the city's spy-camera network is set to push into the most deprived residential areas and target the poor.

Top Council officers and the police are to decide which areas are to be first in line for the new cameras. But the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership has identified 3 areas, amongst the poorest in the city, as a starting point:

West Bowling, Little Horton and Marshfields - the site of the £50 million "New deal for Communities" project.
Thorpe Edge and the Newlands area - the site of the current £18 million SRB (Single Regeneration Budget) scheme.
Keighley - residential sites, probably in the Keighley £17 million SRB area.

These will form the basis of a second round bid to the Governments £150 million CCTV scheme, which includes money for residential CCTV projects. It follows on a £1.3 million bid earlier this year to upgrade and extend the city centre spy camera network, which includes building a new control centre to monitor all the cameras in the district.

The plans mark a frightening escalation of the Councils mass surveillance system. Only 2 years ago councillors insisted that the prospect of putting such cameras into residential areas was unthinkable.

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"What do you do with working-class men who no longer have any possibility of a job and no means to earn self-respect? They have lost any sense that there are social boundaries. They are too poor, and too poorly educated, to take collective responsibility for their own problems. To some extent, I suppose, the cameras are a form of containment."

Curtain falls on last committee

December 14, 1999

[Last committee meeting]

[The last committee closes (left); Philip Baldwin and the grants team (right)]

The very last council committee to meet under the present set-up approved £230,000 in grants to 12 community organisations today.

The Community Development Committee considered appeals from 59 organisations who had been refused voluntary sector grants last month. "Officer error" also led to 2 groups having their grants overturned and another being given an extra £3,500.

The historic meeting was chaired by Councillor Helen Gundry in the absence of Ralph Berry, whose new baby is ill.

Next year the decision is likely to be made by a Councillor Berry alone, as the new cabinet minister responsible.

Asian Disability Awareness Action lost £20,000 after one councillor noticed that they hadn't submitted a development plan. He pointed out that if they'd applied for £19,999 then they would have got the money! Bradford Community Arts also lost £11,000, but Keighley Local Enterprise Agency gained £3,500.

Successful appeals were made by Bingley Voluntary Action (Volunteer Bureau) (£9,578), Shree Krishna Community Centre (£30,000), Milan Centre (Training) (£4,992), Asian Women & Girl's Centre (£7,258), Wyke Manor Community Centre (£13,500), Greenwood Centre (£20,000), Sangat Centre (£20,000), Step 2 Young Peoples Health Project (£30,000), Girlington Centre Steering Group (£20,000), Holmewood Kidzone (£30,000), MAPA (£14,650) and CONTACT (£30,000).

See Full Grants awards

Special school test for new scrutiny commitee

The new cabinet structure for the Council was formally approved at a full council meeting this evening. The first meeting of the new "Executive" is planned for next Wednesday.

The first test of the new Scrutiny and Standards committees is likely to be the closure and amalgamation of Greenfield and Heaton Royds special schools, which was passed in the face of anger from parents and opposition parties.

The parents were backed by former labour Education Chief John lambert, who is chair of governers at Heaton Royds. There was also a clear sense of unease at the decision amongst a number of senior backbench Labour councillors.

Lessons from the Dock strike

December 10, 1999

[International Dockers picket]

"For twenty eight months we fought against the Tories, then Labour and our own Union and that's what hurt the most." explained Mickey. "Our own Union wouldn’t come out and say they supported us, they didn’t dare fight the anti-trade union laws. Bad Laws must be broken."

Mickey Teague, ex-Liverpool Dockworker and his wife Sylvia, founder member of Women of the Waterfront, were guests in Bradford yesterday at the May Day Discussion Groups monthly meeting at the 1in12 Club. To a packed house, both spoke about their experiences of the dispute, how it had effected them personally and what they felt the lessons politically had been.

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Cops swamp environmental demo

December 1, 1999

Leeds demo

Massive ranks of police swamped a small group of peaceful protesters as they took to the streets of Leeds on the day the World Trade Organisation met to make plans for the new millennium.

The demonstrators formed part of a global day of action against the activities of the WTO, arguing the organisation is a rich kids' club putting the interests of multinational companies before workers' rights and the environment.

But passers-by could have been forgiven for thinking it was a police day out as dozens of yellow jackets and a long line of vans trailed the demonstrators around Leeds amid fears of a June 18 style carnival.

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Update: 16 people appeared at Halifax magistrates court on Tuesday charged with conspiracy to commit burglary. The case was adjourned for 11 weeks.

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